Ch.7070. Moonlight Drinking Party (1)

“Wow! You’re really killing the moon!”

Despite being covered in bandages from head to toe, Darius smiles brightly as he admires the moon.

The moon, looking as if it had been cut cleanly in half, was pouring down a cool, melancholic light.

Thud!

Darius sets down an oak barrel he had rolled over. In the romantic scenery of the night garden, he decided to have a drink tonight.

He had thought about getting drunk with the moon as his side dish when he left prison, but he never expected the opportunity to come so quickly.

After the demon of Griffin was destroyed.

King Orpheus regained his composure once again. He also mentioned that his body had been taken over by a demon and stopped the Royal Knights and Magic Inquisitors.

The incident was thus concluded.

A few days later, for some reason, they ended up having a night drinking party in the royal garden.

Though it seemed questionable whether this needed to happen now, the king suggested that since the audience hall needed repairs anyway, they might as well do it right away, and so everyone gathered like this.

“I thought being sturdy was my advantage, but I never knew I’d be this sturdy.”

Deia moves a cart full of drinks beside me.

I thought about helping, but the gunshot wound on my left shoulder made it difficult to move my hand easily.

“Kyaa! Drinks are heeeere!”

And Findenai passes right in front of me. Dressed in a maid’s uniform, she excitedly swings around the largest cup like a child.

“Captain, let’s go!”

“It’s party time!”

“Awesome!”

The junk dealer trio follows behind Findenai.

Deia cautions them, suspecting they might have already had a drink judging by their high tension.

“Hey! Keep it down, it’s nighttime!”

Since there were no servants present and this was a small gathering just for us, making too much noise might disturb others who were resting.

The servants had only set up a campfire-like arrangement before leaving, and already Grand Mage Rockpellican and his disciples were huddled together, lighting a fire.

They seemed to be having a contest to see who could light a fire with the least mana.

I took a seat on the bench in front of the flower bed where Elenoa and I used to sit occasionally.

A huge fire pit created by Rockpellican shoots up like a geyser, illuminating the sky.

“Whoa! The firepower is too strong!”

“M-Master! What do we do about this!”

“W-Wait a moment!”

The mages were putting on quite a spectacular show.

[Wow, wow! I’m going to go watch for a bit!]

The Dark Spiritmaster flowed like water toward where the mages were, apparently attracted by the impressive bursts of fire.

As I was resting my chin on my hand and blankly watching the fire, a female student naturally sat down next to me.

Aria Rius handed me a beer mug she was holding.

“Have a drink too, Professor.”

I accepted it while giving her a warning.

“Don’t think about drinking as a student.”

After my stern warning, Aria smiled and offered the glass in her other hand.

A fragrant orange scent reached my nose.

“This is juice for me. You don’t like students doing things that aren’t student-like, right?”

I didn’t bother answering that it was because I was a professor. In truth, the times I had properly worked as a professor could be counted on one hand.

As I stared blankly at the fire, Aria asked with a slight smile.

“They call it fire-gazing, right?”

“……”

“You told me about it a long time ago. A really long time ago!”

Is she talking about the first playthrough?

I didn’t bother to answer and just sipped my drink. Though it was in a beer mug, it contained wine, and being provided by the royal family, it moistened my mouth quite excellently.

“What are you going to do now? Ah, don’t worry! Whatever you do, I’m on your side, Professor.”

“Whatever I do, you say?”

As I asked while taking another sip, Aria answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes, of course.”

After pondering for a moment with the glass at my lips, I slowly lowered my hand and asked again.

“What if, like Heralazard, I tried to purge most of the kingdom?”

I thought she might hesitate a little.

No, I thought she would at least pretend to question it.

“Yes.”

Aria answered with a bright smile, without a hint of consideration.

“You must have your reasons!”

I wonder if she knows.

How much her answer just now made my heart ache.

She was a character I had played directly. From her first steps, I had seen her entire story and fought alongside her.

It was harder than I thought to see how broken the protagonist, Aria Rius, had become.

“Sigh.”

Tap.

With my eyes still fixed on the flames, I slowly reached out and placed my hand on Aria’s head.

I could feel Aria looking at me blankly in surprise, but I didn’t want to look at her right now.

Just because I felt that sorry for her.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

I offered what comfort I could.

“Ah……”

I couldn’t empathize with how much anguish and pain she must have endured to become this broken, but I could understand.

“Everything will be alright. Relax your shoulders.”

“Ah, ah, Professor!”

She was about to reach out and hug me, but.

My hand had already moved from her head to her face, pushing her away.

“Not that far.”

“…It wasn’t?”

Aria, genuinely disappointed, grumbled “tch” but carefully moved her hips closer to me.

Close enough for our thighs to touch.

It was annoying, but seeing Aria enjoying it, I didn’t want to make an issue of it.

She was smiling with satisfaction, thinking the mood was good, but.

Enter the freedom-seeking barbarian warrior, breaking the mood.

“The master drinks alone even when drinking.”

“……”

“…Findenai, we’re having an important conversation, so could you please get lost?”

Aria immediately shot back, but Findenai just grinned and replied.

“Is sniffing the master that important? The master knew and was just pretending not to notice.”

“…Pardon?”

Aria’s head turned like a rusty gear. Looking straight at me, she blushed with rare embarrassment and asked.

“D-Did you know?”

If she’s talking about how she deliberately came closer to me and pretended to breathe while trying to smell me.

“Yes.”

I knew.

At that, Aria jumped up, bowed her head deeply, and walked away with heavy steps.

Findenai took the seat where Aria had been sitting.

She casually placed one hand on the bench and held a beer mug in the other. Findenai had one foot resting on her opposite thigh, a posture one shouldn’t take when wearing a skirt.

“Put your leg down.”

When I immediately frowned and warned her, Findenai just smirked.

“Why? Are you excited? Reminds you of your playboy days? Want me to serve you passionately tonight?”

“…Don’t cross the line.”

“Tch, shouldn’t people joke around a bit when they’ve had a drink?”

Saying that, Findenai extended her glass toward me. Sighing, I also extended my glass to lightly clink with hers.

The sound was more of a dull thud than a cheerful clink, but.

Even that seemed to satisfy Findenai as she gulped down her drink, and I too took another sip.

“Are you staying in Greyford for a while?”

When Findenai casually asked, I answered calmly.

“Yes, it’s not over yet.”

I had overcome all the king’s trials. All that remained was to be recognized as a Black Mage of the kingdom, but in reality, that was just the beginning.

I could already foresee countless criticisms and being dragged to debate halls in the future.

“It won’t just be noisy. There will likely be many assassins targeting you for assassination or kidnapping. You’ll have to handle that.”

Since I was planning to send Aria back to the academy now.

Hearing this, Findenai rummaged through her pocket.

“Assassins? Sounds fun. I need to swing my axe at least once every three days anyway.”

Findenai took out tobacco and put it in her mouth. When I stared at her intently, she grumbled and made an excuse first.

“Ah, it’s a habit. I’ll just keep it in my mouth without lighting it.”

“Sigh.”

Anyway, Findenai was Findenai in any situation. With her face flushed red from being tipsy, she casually brought up a serious topic.

“That’s good. I heard there are some of our comrades in Greyford. A resistance different from the junk dealers.”

“……”

“I should go join them and gather some information.”

I just silently listened as she brought up the topic as if to remind me that she was part of the resistance.

Yes, not just in Greyford but in several major cities, there were resistance fighters who had come over from the Republic of Clark.

They each had different names and professed different beliefs.

In the chapter where Findenai and the protagonist Aria fight, they appear as the main villains, with Findenai, who unified all resistance groups, appearing as the boss.

‘Of course, that world line has already disappeared.’

That future had already vanished when Findenai entered as my maid.

That’s probably why Aria doesn’t bother with Findenai either.

In the midst of this serious conversation, Findenai glanced at me.

“Master, can I ask you one thing?”

“…Speak.”

Her serious expression unconsciously made me focus, but.

“When I offered to lick your ass and you refused, you honestly regretted it, right?”

“……”

“Right? Didn’t you?”

“Findenai.”

My head throbbed. Since it clearly wasn’t from the alcohol, I naturally responded with an expression of disgust.

“Get lost.”